National History Day Research Workshop

We have prepared this website to help teachers and students prepare for their National History Day visit to the University of Iowa Libraries. The workshop will include a short introduction to specific Libraries resources, then students are encouraged to use those resources to begin their research.

Each student will be given a Guest Access login and password in order to use the computers to access electronic resources in the Main Library. Students are welcome to check out books from the UI Libraries, but they will need to have permission from a school official and submit a Community Borrower's Card application. To request an application, please contact Kristi Bontrager, Public Relations Coordinator at 319-335-5960.

InfoHawk Catalog      http://infohawk.uiowa.edu

The web-based library catalog at the University of Iowa. Includes holdings not only for the UI Libraries, but also the Law Library, the Curriculum Lab and the State Historical Society of Iowa.

New York Times Historical Newspapers

Contains full-text access to the New York Times (1851-present). This resource can only be accessed while visiting the UI Libraries.

Government Publications     http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/govpubs

The UI Libraries is a depository for US federal, State of Iowa, United Nations, and European Union publications. Through these depository programs, the UI Libraries receives all publications available from these agencies, with the understanding that they will be freely and readily available to the public.

Iowa Women's Archives   http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa

Special Collections & University Archives   http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll

The IWA and Special Collections collects primary source materials in the form of manuscript and other unique collections.

Map Collection     http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/maps

The Map Collection contains maps, aerial photographs, gazetteers, atlases, reference sources concerning maps and cartography.

Iowa Digital Library     http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu

The UI’s Digital Library Services creates local collections of digitized primary source materials – including images, text, audio and video – at the Iowa Digital Library and Iowa Heritage Digital Collections (www.iowaheritage.org) sites. The collections are accessible from home without a Guest Access login. You can take a sample tour of the collections online at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/ihdctour or view a powerpoint presentation of the collections at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/presentations/nhd.htm.

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Additional Electronic Resources at the UI Libraries

Resources by Subject - American History

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eresources/refsubject-results.asp?subj=3 

UI Librarians have compiled a list of electronic resources about American History. Resources marked with a are only accessible in the UI Libraries with your Guest Access login and password.

• America: History and Life   Scholarly articles about United States and Canadian history from 1954 - present.
  
• Archives U.S.A. Useful for identifying primary collections in Iowa and elsewhere.
  
• Archive of Americana   Historical newspapers, government publications and other printed materials.
  
• Women and Social Movements   Organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000.

Resources by Subject - History (general)

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eresources/refsubject-results.asp?subj=27

UI Librarians have compiled a list of electronic resources about History. Resources marked with a are only accessible in the UI Libraries with your Guest Access login and password.

• Historical Abstracts   Scholarly articles about world history outside the U.S. and Canada.
  
• London Times Digital Archive, 1785-1985   Digital representation of the entire newspaper including articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos.
  
• Congressional Lexis-Nexis An index of United States Congressional publications including hearings, debates, and committee reports from 1789 to the present covering historical events, public policy and social issues. Some recent publications may be available in full text.
  
• Statistical Lexis Nexis provides abstracts and indexes of statistical information from over 100,000 U.S. government publications from 1973, state and private sources from 1980, and approximately 2000 documents from international organizations from 1983. Full text or web links provided for some citations.
  
• Access UN Index to United Nations publications including Official Records, preliminary documents, draft resolutions, meeting records, books and serial titles, and UN Treaty Series citations. Also included is the full-text of more recent UN documents. Many of the sources may be found in print or microfiche in Government Publications.

Other Resources on the Web

UI Librarians have compiled a list of other web resources that are available from any web connection.

• American Memory from the Library of Congress  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas-Austin http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps  Includes historical maps, maps of general interest and links to outline maps of counties, states, countries and other maps useful in creating your own map.
• National Conservation Training Center http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/index.htm

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Need a Topic for Your Project?

The following list was created as a guide to help you think about local topics.  Selecting a topic unique to Iowa can be beneficial for many reasons:

1. You have a good chance of finding primary sources and experts close to home.
2. The topic may be unique among NHD projects.
3. You can make the topic personal by looking at it from a local perspective.  Several of these topics reflect regional and national trends; do not forget to look for the “big picture” when examining these ideas. At the same time, consider that some of the topics below require narrowing.

Wars

Civil War

• Emancipation Proclamation Dept. of Special Collections: on-line subject guide to Civil War materials http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/resources/CivilWarResources.html

World War I

• Iowa’s involvement Dept. of Special Collections: On-line article about the Camp Dodger, a military newspaper published in Iowa during World War I http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/Bai/newman2.htm

• Iowa’s involvement Dept. of Special Collections : Papers of Laurence Rankin Fairall (editor of the Camp Dodger) http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc200/MsC152/MsC152_fairall.html

World War II

• WWII press clippings http://cdm.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fwwii - searchable database of digital clippings from Iowa newspapers during World War II.

• Holocaust : Guards, Anne Frank, concentration camps Dept. of Special Collections: Papers of Nick Thimmesch (MsC 709, box 9) http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC750/MsC709/thimmesch.html

• Japanese internment camps during World War II Iowa Women’s Archives:  Mary Frances Reger-Wilkinson papers http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/Reger-WilkinsonMF.htm

• Women and War : Rosie the Riveter, World War II Iowa Women’s Archives:  Collections Relating to Women and War http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/WomenandWar.html

• Papers of John Calhoun (MsC 274; Iowa legislator, World War II veteran) Dept. of Special Collections:

  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc300/MsC274/MsC274_johncalhoun.html

• Papers of Homer Calkin (MsC 504; State Department official, World War II military intelligence officer, Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc550/MsC504/msc504.html

• In addition, search InfoHawk for possible titles which may also cover the additional World War II topics above.

Vietnam War

• Edith Neal papers - Vietnam mail lady who corresponded with the soldiers in Vietnam.  Iowa Women's Archives. Guide to the papers at http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/NealEdith.htm
• Ruth Schaefer papers - Latin teacher in Iowa City who assisted refugees from Vietnam in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Iowa Women's Archives. Guide to the papers at http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/SchaeferRuth.htm
• Peg Mullen papers - the mother of a soldier killed by friendly fire during the Vietnam War.  Iowa Women's Archives. Guide to the papers at http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/MullenPeg.htm

• Vietnam Protests - Iowa Women’s Archives:  Sally Wisenfeld papers http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/WiesenfeldSally.htm

• Vietnam Protests - Iowa Women’s Archives:  Collections Relating to Peace and Pacifism http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/peaceholdings.html

• For resources about UI student protest of the war in Vietnam, go to http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/archives/faq/faqprotest.htm

Other Conflicts

• Bay of Pigs Dept. of Special Collections: Papers of Benton Franklin Jensen (MsC 147; two references to Bay of Pigs in the subject index to his papers) http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc150/MsC147/subjectindex.htm

• Cuban Missile Crisis Dept. of Special Collections: Frank Miller Cartoon Collection (one cartoon when searching “Cuban missile crisis” on this page: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC700/MsC659/miller_cartoons.htm

Health and Illness

AIDS

• Barbara Fassbinder papers - Fassbinder contracted the AIDS virus while caring for a patient as a nurse. Iowa Women's Archives. Guide to the papers at http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/FassbinderBarbara.htm

• University Archives Subject files >  Misc. > AIDS.  [RG01.15.05] Special Collections Department 

• University Archives:  GLBTAU records [RG02.03.18]. Special Collections Department. Guide to the records at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/archives/guides/glbtgu.htm. 

Campaigns for Reproductive Rights in Iowa

• Iowa Women's Archives. http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa

Social Issues

Civil Rights

• Martin Luther King, Malcolm X Dept. of Special Collections: Papers of Frank Miller (MsC 659) http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC700/MsC659/miller_cartoons.htm

• Martin Luther King, Malcolm X Dept. of Special Collections: Papers of Earl Rose (MsC 860). Clippings in boxes 4 and 5. Dr. Rose, an Iowa City resident, was Dallas County (Texas) Coroner at the time of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/msc/ToMsC900/MsC860/MsC860.html

• Freedom Riders / civil rights workers Dept. of Special Collections: Papers of Harry Harper http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc400/MsC365/msc365.html

• Freedom Riders / civil rights workers Iowa Women’s Archives: Collections relating to African-American women in Iowa http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/AAhold.html

• Collections Relating to African American Women, Iowa Women’s Archives:http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/AAhold.html

• Virginia Harper papers—NAACP newsletters, Iowa Digital Library http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/harper
• Fighting for Gay & Lesbian Rights in Iowa http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/LGBT.html

• Search “civil rights” on SmartSearch (Libraries’ website).

Labor Movement

• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire Use a ‘keyword anywhere’ search of “Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire” in Infohawk, there are 8 results; all of them books. One book is a diary of Angela Denoto, a factory worker

Underground Railroad

• Todd, John. Early settlement and growth of Western Iowa; or, Reminiscences. Des Moines, Iowa: Historical Department of Iowa, 1906.

• Fay Family Papers (MsC 45) have a few photographs related to the history of the UGRR in Iowa, Dept. of Special Collections : http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc100/MsC45/Papers%20of%20the%20Fay%20Family.htm

• Papers of the Federal Writers’ Project (MsC 295, box 3), Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc300/MsC295/MsC295_federalwritersprogram.htm

• Elvira Gaston Platt Papers, Iowa Women's Archives http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/PlattElvira.htm

• Frances Hawthorne Papers, Iowa Women’s Archives: http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/HawthorneFrances.htm

Equal Rights and Women

• Women’s Rights in the 1910-20’s – 19th Amendment Iowa Women’s Archives:  Collections - Woman Suffrage Movement  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/Suffrage_movement.html

• The Struggle to Add the Equal Rights Amendment to Iowa’s Constitution http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/LAW.html
• Challenges Women Faced Entering Police Departments in the 1970s http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/CollTop.html#p
• Controversies Over Title IX and Women’s Athletic Programs http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/Sports_2001.html

Relating to Other Cultures

Amish

• Papers of Harold Hughes (MsC 385; gubernatorial), in boxes 2 and 16 Dept. of Special Collections http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc400/MsC385/MsC385.htm

• Papers of Frank Miller (MsC 659). Des Moines Register cartoonist. Dept. of Special Collections http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC700/MsC659/miller_cartoons.htm
• Papers of Gerald Bogan (MsC 352), box 2 Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc400/MsC352/MsC352_bogan.htm

Native Americans

• Thoreau Indian Notebooks (MsC 795) Dept. of Special Collections:  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC800/MsC795/thoreauindiannotebooks.htm

• William Henry Jackson Photographs (MsC 539), Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc550/MsC539_JacksonPhotos/Jacksonphotographs.htm

• Travelling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century (enter term “Indian” in the search box; be careful to distinguish Native American references from Asian Indian), Dept. of Special Collections:  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/chautauqua/

International

• Asian Resettlements (Iowa) Iowa Women’s Archives:  Ruth Schaefer papers http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/SchaeferRuth.htm

• Haiti Dept. of Special Collections: Paul Conlon United Nations Sanctions Papers http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc550/MsC529/MsC529.htm

• Italy Iowa Women’s Archives:  Dora Jane Hamblin papers http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/HamblinDoraJane.htm

Farming

• Collections Relating to Rural Women, Iowa Women’s Archives:http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/Topical_holdings_lists/ruralwomen.html

• Editorial Cartoons of J.N. ‘Ding’ Darling (click on the “farming” icon) http://cdm.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/index_ding.php?CISOROOT=/ding

People and Organizations

Free Masons, Knights of the Templar, Ku Klux Klan

• Ruth Salzmann Becker Papers (refers to Free Masons, 1919, in box 1 under ‘writings’), Iowa Women’s Archives: http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/findingaids/html/BeckerRuth.htm

• Papers of the Federal Writers’ Project (includes references to the KKK in Iowa in box 6), Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc300/MsC295/MsC295_federalwritersprogram.htm

• Papers of Lemuel A. Penn, Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc550/MsC507/msc507.html

• Records of the New Wave Party (1980s-era student group that protested the Ku Klux Klan), University Archives:  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/archives/guides/RG02/RG02.06.03.htm

• Editorial Cartoons of J.N. ‘Ding’ Darling (15 cartoons result from a search for “Ku Klux Klan” at http://cdm.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/index_ding.php?CISOROOT=/ding

Joseph McCarthy, Edward R. Murrow

• Search InfoHawk and the Libraries website for “McCarthyism.”

• Frank Miller Cartoon Collection (two cartoons when searching this page for “McCarthy,” Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC700/MsC659/miller_cartoons.htm

Mary Todd Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln

• Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. Main Library call number E457.45.G66 2005.

James Van Allen

• Papers of James A. Van Allen, University Archives:  http://www.aip.org/history/ead/19990077.html

• Foerstner, Abigail. James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2007. University Archives call number QB36.V357 F64 2007.

Religion

• Subject guide to resources on clergy and the church, Dept. of Special Collections: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/resources/ClergyChurch.html

• Bloom, Stephen G. Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America. New York: Harcourt, 2001. In Main Library, call no. F630.J5 B56 2001.

• Papers of the Federal Writers Project (refer to box 2 re Mormons in Iowa, and box 3 re Jews in Iowa) Dept. of Special Collections:  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc300/MsC295/MsC295_federalwritersprogram.htm

• Papers of Hartzell Spence (journalist, author; includes drafts of his writings about various religions, Dept. of Special Collections:  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC750/MsC701/MsC701_spencehartzell.htm

 

 

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Other Iowa Historical Resources

There are many organizations in Iowa that can offer you a unique perspective on your research.

Iowa Organizations

• Humanities Iowa

• Iowa Council for the Social Studies

• Iowa Department of Education

Iowa Archives and Libraries

• Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

• Iowa State University -- Library

• Library of the National Czech and Slovak Museum

• State Library of Iowa

• State Library of Iowa Explore Iowa's Libraries --links to library web sites

• State of Iowa Libraries Online (SILO) - Iowa Library Catalogs

• State Library of Iowa - Iowa Library Directories

• State Historical Society of Iowa --sponsor of National History Day in Iowa

• University of Iowa Health Care Medical Museum